Castlevania Review

 

I think of myself as something of a "hardcore gamer" (with a capital G and a hard R). Not necessarily in the sense that I play video games constantly or at an elite level, but that my knowledge and experience with games is deeper than the average player and considerably more expansive than most. 

 

I love researching game franchises, which developers and studios worked on which games and series and the catalogs and libraries of the myriad console generations of the past. I'm a student of the industry, if you will. Before you push me in a locker and call me slurs, I'll be the first to say that I'm far from an expert, so I won't pretend to lay claim to a title like that. There are far too many iconic series that I'm only familiar with through cultural osmosis, and I'm seeking to reconcile these sins. 

 

For instance, I've always appreciated the Castlevania franchise, but my hands-on knowledge of the series is quite limited. I also noticed that Netto's Game Room is missing reviews for nearly every single game in the franchise, save for Ben's review of Order of Ecclesia. So I've claimed the mantle of the Belmont clan, grabbed my whip and have undertaken the quest to kill Dracula across every game in the franchise, both to better familiarize myself with the brand and to fix this glaring absence from Netto's Game Room's review coverage.

 

I love playing retro games, so I was excited to start at the very beginning of the Castlevania series. Simply named Castlevania, the initial game in the franchise released in 1987 for the NES in North America. I played it via the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Steam. I'll admit right out of the gate, that I had to use save states, a feature that the collection offers, allowing you to set hyper specific, pixel perfect save files that can be rapidly resumed. Again, I don't claim to be a highly skilled gamer, so I didn't have any qualms using the save states, but I did feel like that should be made clear when reviewing a game. To be honest, I don't think I would've made it through Castlevania without save states.

 

 

While I don't anticipate this being a lengthy review, I'd be remiss not to give the game its due laurels. I couldn't believe how cool this game looked for being nearly forty years old. The color palette they implemented helped facilitate an appropriately spooky, macabre visual style. The developers were obviously going for a gothic horror tone, with Castlevania being directly inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula in many ways. While the NES had limited 8-bit graphical capabilities, the developers worked wonders with the art to effectively create that gloomy, gothic horror tone that they were aiming for. The stone walls of Dracula's castle look ancient and time-worn. The decorations and furniture are ragged and eerie looking, like no one has lived in the castle for centuries. 

 

Over the course of the game's short run time, you see most of Dracula's palatial estate and the surrounding grounds. This brings to mind a minor complaint. I don't feel like the various stages do enough to set themselves apart from each other, but again, with the game being as old as it is, I'm genuinely impressed with what they managed to do in an NES game and I'm willing to forgive archaic design philosophy in this instance.

 

 

Taking up the iconic whip, Vampire Killer, and donning the inexplicable barbarian-esque garb of Simon Belmont, you're tasked with navigating Dracula's castle to lay the dastardly villain low. As you would expect, your vampiric archvillain is not the only threat hiding in the shadows of this wretched keep. A whole host of creeps and ghouls serve Dracula, many of which are familiar monstrous faces seen across the history of pop culture. Skeletons, zombies, bats, flying Medusa heads (those are the worst!) and myriad other creatures of the night stand between you and your destiny. Dracula has also enlisted the help of a cadre of essentially "Universal Monsters" to serve as bosses of the various stages that you work through. 

 

At times, it feels like Dracula's castle is subletting space out to Spirit of Halloween. I have to say, the gothic art style, combined with the 8-bit graphical limitation, created some really unique, awesome looking monster designs. Simon's whip is his most trustworthy weapon, and it's quite an effective, stylish tool in fighting monsters. Vampire Killer can be upgraded a couple of times over the course of the game: once by converting into a spiked flail, and again by becoming significantly longer. Simon also has access to a few different side-arms and items that turn him into an even more lethal killing machine. Thrown axes, boomerangs and daggers add some ranged damage potential to his arsenal, while a gadget like the watch is utilized to briefly freeze time, leaving enemies wide open for easy attacks. 

 

Simon Belmont, and the Belmont clan as a whole, are a family of Christian warriors who wage a holy war against Dracula and his minions, so Christianity plays a considerable role in the franchise, though mostly as a form of set dressing; it's not like Simon is trying to get the gamer to go to church or pick up a Bible. That being said, there are a few religious items, like Holy Water or a Rosary, that Simon can use to absolutely annihilate the evil henchmen of Dracula.

 

 

As I was saying with needing save states, this game is quite challenging. Even with Simon's highly capable abilities, the creatures of the night are a relentless, bloodthirsty lot. And even when you're not struggling against the various enemies that lunge and claw at you, you're battling the castle itself. The platforming can be really challenging at times, as you try to navigate through the treacherous hallways and towers of Dracula's haunted fortress. 

 

A major component of the difficulty came as a result of the game's controversial "knockback" mechanic. When you take damage, Simon is thrown back several feet, which was incredibly difficult to plan around in many areas of the castle. Some incredibly aggravating platforming sequences involved you trying to land some precarious jumps, only for flying Medusa heads to come careening toward you, with their erratic flying pattern, and hit you, knocking you back off your platform and down to your death. Save states were critically important to me here, and made getting through these segments much less stressful. I also had a lot of trouble with the final bosses of the game: Death and also Dracula himself. I had to tactically use save states to get through these fights, as I learned the bosses' complicated, aggressive movesets.

 

 

There's not much more to say about Castlevania. The story isn't particularly deep or detailed in this first game, it mostly just lays the groundwork for this storied franchise, and the eternal struggle of the Belmont clan as they battle Dracula through the centuries. The series' lore really develops further in the following games. The gameplay is relatively simple, yet difficult and satisfying and fun to progress through. While Castlevania is far from a perfect game, and I don't think it's necessary for you to complete it, I do think you should at least play it and see how this vaunted series began. 

 

It's an interesting game to see and play through a historical context, to gain a further appreciation for the impact that this title had on gaming history and to witness the evolution of video games from a rudimentary toy-like experience, into an interactive medium with environmental storytelling and slightly more depth in its combat and mechanics. It feels like Castlevania was an inflection point in the video game medium, where developers started being able to express themselves in a more coherent, detailed fashion and truly enhance the gaming hobby in a more profound way. I think playing it as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection was an excellent way to experience the game, especially with access to save states, and I recommend anyone at least checking the game out.

 

VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PC